Daily Archives: June 12, 2013

Spending a summer working at movie theater in Hollywood has its perks. I get to bask in the glamour of serving popcorn to and cleaning up after stars who pop by the sneak peaks of their new openings; I am comforted by the scent of freshly made kettle corn while I scrub the lenses of the 3-D glasses clean. It is actually a fun gig, and so far I’ve learned some useful lessons:

Me introducing a movie to an eager audience

1) Popcorn is extremely messy and difficult to sweep up off of a carpeted floor.

2) It is more difficult than it looks to create the perfect condiment design on a hot dog. My apologies to all the patrons whose hot dog buns came with a glob of mustard on one end that slowly trailed into a squiggle.

3) People who are given free food are much messier than those who pay for their concessions. People who see “The Purge” and “Fast & Furious 6” are much messier than people who see “Francis Ha” and “Before Midnight.”

I have not seen the first two, but I have seen those last two (though my cleanliness may be more related to the fact that I now know the people picking up my trash than my movie choices). I’ve never been a fan of action-packed summer blockbusters. So when “Before Midnight” opened in a sea of adrenaline pumpers, I was more than ready to settle into the cool, nearly empty movie theater. Richard Linklater’s “Before Midnight,” starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, focuses on a single day in Jesse and Celine’s relationship. The two are approaching the end of their summer Greek getaway and a possible breaking point.

While the ladies prepare their final Greek feast, the camera zooms in on the chopped juicy, bright red tomatoes right down the center, and focuses on the women as they tenderly fold marinated rice into succulent grape leaves. I of course developed a hankering for Greek food. This recipe for homemade tzatziki is simple yet refreshing. If you are not summering at a Greek villa, don’t fret—this dip will make you think you are.

Tzatziki Recipe

Adapted from Serious Eats and Chobani

Ingredients:

½ pound cucumbers

1 cup Greek yogurt

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 handful of dill, minced

1 tsp. lemon juice

Directions:

Seed the cucumbers. To do this, cut it lengthwise. Take a spoon to the middle and scoop out the mushy center part. You’ll be left with a little cucumber boat.

Shred the cucumbers in a food processor. If you don’t have one you can just chop the cucumbers thin.

Mix in all the ingredients. You may want to play around with the amount of lemon juice you use, depending on your taste.